East Coast Gamers Toms River NJ RESELLER AlERT!!!

[HyruleHero]

If you live in the Toms River NJ area or seek a retro game shop do not seek out East Coast Gamers. East Coast Gamers is a well over priced retro and new gaming shop in the NJ area. Prices are outrageous for collectors on retro stuff!! You can find cheaper on Ebay! Their original shop burnt down and they have a new shop that just re-opened. I just hope that no one trades in old video games just so they can resell it at their outrageous prices. When a retro shop is done right for example stores in NJ like Digital Press, Level Up Entertainment, Next Level Video Games . The new and retro gamers unite and help these stores be successful by good wood of mouth business and great service from the retail shop in return. When you run a retail shop and price gouge your products you are only alienating your customers. So retro gamers stay away or make the extra trip to the stores I mentioned and new gamers stick with Gamestop if you want reliable inventory,service, and price. Don't support greedy reseller!

[sfchakan]

Give us some examples of their price gouging.

[Ed Oscuro]

You can find cheaper on Ebay!

Yes. You can definitely find lots of broken junk on eBay that has problems getting to you because "Dracula's Magic" happens - then you're stuck opening cases and looking like a jerk. Being able to see and test goods in person, or send returns if need be, is valuable.

Recently I was so thrilled to find out that there is a store locally - hidden around a corner all these years - that I went and bought something. Could I have gotten it cheaper on eBay? Sure. Well, actually, not really.

Later I needed to pick up an original model SNES, and I balked at the store's $50 price (I hope that's understandable). Went on eBay instead. Ended up having to order a shit ton of SNESes to get one that even worked, and it was just a big waste of time for everybody. I don't particularly mind because I've got some extra parts now, and I like the one I eventually ordered. But y'know, if I could've bought it locally, there's that.

Long story short - "eBay is cheaper" is misleading. The value you get out of bidding on eBay is, in most cases, a bit less than you get from local service, where unless the seller hits you over the head with a bat and calls the cops on you, your chances of leaving with nothing to show for your troubles are far less than if you had dealt with some random person on eBay. (There are exceptional sellers on eBay of course - just as there are bad local sellers.)

Without any concrete example of the terrible pricing, we really can't say how good or bad it truly is.

[Ozzy_98]

If it's broken on ebay and wasn't labeled as such, you can get a refund at least. Not that I've had bad luck with consoles not working off ebay.

[sfchakan]

I've had multiple poor experiences buying hardware online. Games not so much.

Every time, it's always been "oh, I was just using it before I shipped it. It worked fine!" Yeah, right buddy.

[Ozzy_98]

Don't ever buy anything from shopgoodwill then :P Everything is as-is, not tested, no returns.

[Niku-Sama]

every thing I have ever bought on shop good Will has worked. I did get a psx without sound once but it was in a lot with 6 others. I eventually got it working again with some something

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I see some ridiculous prices at afew shops in my area, too. Theres a headshop that has gotten into selling retro game, cuz theres a few guys into them, and things r just so weirdly priced sometimes. $15 for Airwolf, $65 for Kirby's Dreamland 3!!! Insane. They have an NES with cords and everything for $70!! Retarded. They sometimes price things accurately, but oftentimes not. I'll talk them down sometimes if it's something I really want, tho.

I picked up Tomba 2 complete for $70, which was talked down from $80. $80!!! I explained it's selling complete on Amazon for $65 including shipping, so that kinda said I could easily buy it right then online for cheaper. Perhaps if u try talking em down on prices u can get things for a more reasonable price. I had some store credit, also, on that Tomba game so I wound up paying $40 cash. I don't like doing deals like that but this is a game I never see anywhere, so having some store credit for old Grateful Dead cds I never play, I saw a deal. Prices are ridiculous, and it seems sometimes things actually can go for less on Amazon or Ebay.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I am glad I have most of the consoles I want at the moment, cuz I see prices still rising. I'm always into getting and playing more games, but there are some affordable games I'll get and really like. I have no problem paying decent money for a good game, tho. Some Amazon prices are pretty reasonable, if u look hard enough. The Mega Man X collection on PS2 is about $8 brand new. I just bought Loco Roco 2 for PSP brand new, it was $12 I think. Sure, there's prolly a better deal out there for the game, but who cares? $12 for a game I will play and enjoy, and yes open, who really cares?

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

There is a retro game shop near my house that can overprice things also, so I try to be careful. If it's something super cheap tho I'll get it, like some unpopular NES games or something. I picked up Sega GT/Jetset Radio Future on Xbox for $3 there, thats a decent deal to me cuz it's a game I'll play and enjoy. Not simply cuz it's a $3 game, idc if it matches the Ebay prices.

[mailman187666]

Most shops and flea market vendors are almost always above ebay prices, in my area. The fact is, that there are tons of them around me, and none of them try to be competitive at all. There is one flea market vendor that I go to that has the mentality that people don't come to flea markets to pay ebay prices, so most times, it'll be 10%-20% lower than ebay prices. He'll even be reasonable being talked down a few bucks here and there.

These days, it almost seems like ebay is no longer the top dollar option for games.

[Tanooki]

There's a thread over at NA that does this too and it's a pretty good service both for the good shops and the bad.

There's a chain here in town that has been around for probably 20+ years and up until about 2 years ago if that, had been a good deal. The problem is that Half Price Books decided to unofficially rename their store to Buy it Now Books and not warn people. First it was the games, then it went into movies and even the books too because of their mighty internet pricer. They used to slice the price, now they stick full price highest paid BIN values on most the stuff. Because of this people started to poach the other store of goods because it was cheaper and their stocks got depleted, so they were forced to match their bullshit scam pricing and now all the deals in town are gone completely short of maybe a once a month find of an ok price maybe 20% under ebay at one or the other. I totally hear you about warning people. I used to go to both the stores every single week, now the HPB it's only if I'm near by (I live like 2mi from one, 5 from the other) so if I go by I'll roll in but I don't make it a thing to do, same with the other though at least they're not as crappily priced. I'll buy hardware locally before online because you can check it out, but games, those you can do well with online and save a lot if you can't luck into a garage sale or flea market find IF your area support it (mine doesn't at all, very inconsistent and minimal compared to when I was back in CA for 3 years as I'd get stuff every weekend.)

[eastcoastgamersnj]

If you live in the Toms River NJ area or seek a retro game shop do not seek out East Coast Gamers. East Coast Gamers is a well over priced retro and new gaming shop in the NJ area. Prices are outrageous for collectors on retro stuff!! You can find cheaper on Ebay! Their original shop burnt down and they have a new shop that just re-opened. I just hope that no one trades in old video games just so they can resell it at their outrageous prices. When a retro shop is done right for example stores in NJ like Digital Press, Level Up Entertainment, Next Level Video Games . The new and retro gamers unite and help these stores be successful by good wood of mouth business and great service from the retail shop in return. When you run a retail shop and price gouge your products you are only alienating your customers. So retro gamers stay away or make the extra trip to the stores I mentioned and new gamers stick with Gamestop if you want reliable inventory,service, and price. Don't support greedy reseller!

This is East Coast Gamers in Toms River, NJ. We were doing a sweep on Google to ensure that our address changes were correct, and came upon this forum and post.
We sincerely apologize that you feel that we price gauge our items in the store. We do not hide the fact that we use websites such as Price Charting to factor how we resell items. That being said, we would be interested to know what you feel we burned you on so badly.

Being that you posted this in June, it seems that you had to have been in right as we reopened after the fire. The store burned down on May 15th, and we reopened on June 16th. Your post was about a full week after our reopening, when we had very limited stock to even sell, since everything was lost in the fire. So, we are confused as to what must have happened that you felt the need to express such disdain for us publicly.

Anyway, we realize that it is months later, but being that we want to do everything we can to keep our customers happy, please come in and speak to the owner, Mike, and we will see if we can offer you store credit for your troubles back in June. We, again, apologize, for anything that happened to you that made you feel we gauge our prices.

Happy Gaming!
The Staff at East Coast Gamers

[sfchakan]

He seemed to only indicate a dissatisfaction with the prices. Evidently, you didn't offer him "bro prices" and should have known he's a real hardcore gamer. You know, not like your other customers.

I asked him to indicate where you were price gouging and he never returned to post any examples.

Nice of you to post a response and care enough to win them back, though.

[Oldskool]

I think a lot of people are just used to the "Forum" prices.. which in most cases are lower than everywhere else. The problem is that forum prices are not "the going rate", which is what someone on eBay or a game store is going to want. I have found that yes.. prices can be higher in local game stores.. but I have also found good deals as well.

It's true about buying consoles and things too because I deal with the same thing in the business that I run. People figure they will pick something up at a flea market, garage sale, or thrift store.. by the time they get it home they realize it's not working right and then they bring it to me.. then I repair it and by the time it's said and done they could have just came to me in the first place and saved time, money, and they would have even got a warranty with it... not to mention they are supporting locals.

[sfchakan]

I think it's a problem exacerbated by recent shows like American Pickers and even internet shows like Game Chasers. Everyone feels like they're king shit now and deserves a special deal. If you don't give them one, you are a "dirty reseller" or a "price gouger."

Truth is, everyone essentially resells now, unless they hoard. If they can get stuff they don't necessarily want to keep for cheap, then they will just as quickly toss it on ebay trying to get maximum profit as well.

[Greg2600]

If it were up to me, I'd just delete this thread as it was pretty unfair to the store.

[Gameguy]

I think it's a problem exacerbated by recent shows like American Pickers and even internet shows like Game Chasers. Everyone feels like they're king shit now and deserves a special deal. If you don't give them one, you are a "dirty reseller" or a "price gouger."

Truth is, everyone essentially resells now, unless they hoard. If they can get stuff they don't necessarily want to keep for cheap, then they will just as quickly toss it on ebay trying to get maximum profit as well.

I have no idea how all these shows got popular. The auction shows, picking shows, hoarding shows, etc. People will just watch anything now. Just combine the picking and hoarding shows into one to get them out of the way.

[PapaStu]

If it were up to me, I'd just delete this thread as it was pretty unfair to the store.

Why? This shows that someone wasn't happy, they didn't follow up with their internet rage and the store still came in and replied and is trying to make things right, 6+ months later. Shows a bit of character on their part IMO.

I think in the end, people forget that storefronts cost monies (often times quite a bit) and forum prices won't keep the lights on, and allow those employees to get paid, or the small time owner to bring home any money for themselves.

Shits expensive when you're not Amazon or Walmart and have the buying power of a large country behind you to control prices.

[Tanooki]

Anyone here familiar with Save Point in NC? The gripe at the top of this thread wouldn't have happened there. I can't say anything for this store being complained about, but SP does things a bit differently. The owner posts at NA when I was there and talked about how the other guys were high ebay/amazon bin junk and his plan worked out well. If I recall the basics of it was that he would sell under the online going rate, but not grossly, maybe 10-20% under that so he wouldn't get pilfered by resellers as the margin wasn't enough. And then in turn instead of the usual 10-20% trade rate, he'd give like a third...if the game was super popular or super pricey he'd give like 50% because it would go out the door fast adding that dough into his pocket. To offset things and get more interest he had like arcade games in there, runs arcade/console tournaments with simple prizes, did other little random things and I think he had gamer based merch and basic drinks/snacks. Often he'd have new posts on there showing the benefits of that because word got out and lazy types not wanting to deal with ebay and stuff brought in the good stuff, Samsons, Earthbounds, Bonk NES, Wild Guns, Evo, Chrono Trigger, and so on-- the usual $50-500+ video games on ebay and a good mix of loose, CI, or CIB. It seemed to work. I know I'd go to that store if I lived in or near that guys town. Sure I could sit on ebay and watch for a booboo where I get a game for 1/3 to 1/2 off the going rate, but I'd go there first and support a place with those business practices and I'd also stem a lot of my selling off of my games online due to his valuing. If there were more stores that started to do this instead of just using the very incorrect video game price charting site which JJGames admits is inaccurate since it can't tell the diff of game, game+manual for pricing or how nice or beat up the game is.